Description of once favorite restaurant could be, good food, great service, great rates, nice view. etc etc. However for me, my favorite restaurant has a different criteria. Its my favorite place because I have a lot of good memories of that place. I feel attached to this small road side restaurant because I shared a lot of laughs and cries at this very place.

I come from a small town that has now developed into a small city. People have migrated from different places and a lot of new faces dominate and change my home place everyday. However, I have been in the town for 20 years of my life. As it was a small town had a few restaurants years back, and out of the few, Ratna was the biggest restaurant in the town. So with choose of class avilable, my family and friends ventured more than offend at Ratna. I remember all Diwali's, Birthdays, the only name on the appointment was Ratna. I remember my brother, who at that time couldn't read the Menu, would always say PAV BHAJI, even before we start discussing what to order. I remember my Dad  surfing the menu with a promise " Lets order something different" and end up ordering the same Tadka Dal and Paneer, as always. He would always allow me to order everything I wanted, and then scold me for leaving food unfinished. Passing the highway, a small glims of this restaurant brings back all those memories.

Our college was 3 KM away from the restaurant, I remember me with two of my friends, chatting for 3 KM to make it to the restaurant. The breakfast during lunch hours was the funniest thing we three did. Due to the distance between college and this restaurant, most of the college sweethearts managed to find a corner for themselves. I remember theier red face the moment they saw three of us entering the Restaurant.

I remember missing Ratna, when I didn't get filter coffee in Mumbai. I remember Missing Ratna, when a Dubai restaurant charged me 12 A.E.D for a Masala Dosa. I remember making a wish list, wherein I mentioned I would like to visit Ratna one more time. The day I returned from aboard, the very next sunrise, I woke my mom at 9 asking her to drive me to Ratna for breakfast. I remember my husband thinking I am crazy to have dragged him in a crowded restaurant just to drink coffee. I remember the hours both of us spent there, trying to make sence of Capital market. He was explaining me what Derivatives are, and I was busy thinking he is too smart for me. All these memories stay and they have a single background in Common. They all started for me at this place, and the place reminds me of all these days that passed by.

Today it is the smallest resturant in town, it doesnt have those chef's as they had before. The rates have gone up. And the place doesnt look that good. However everything thing ages and age is what makes it beautiful .